august 16th
Well, it’s almost like we never had a break this summer at all.
Normal service was resumed yesterday with a a 4-1 thumping of a pretty toothless Everton at Goodison Park. Goals from the evergreen Dennis Bergkamp, a flashing header from José, a typical Freddie finish from close range and Le Bob’s first of the season made it a fine opening day for the Gunners.
It was pretty obvious that proper match fitness is still a little bit away but we looked sharp, passed it well and always looked like we could step it up when need be. Mightily impressive in midfield was Cesc Fabregas whos performance displayed a maturity beyond his 17 years. The fact that he is only just 17 is a great indication of the talent he has and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Arsene Wenger. The boss says “Fabregas is mentally very hungry but he still a young boy physically, so we will have to protect him. However, the more they try to intimidate him, the more he comes back. He is good enough to be a regular now.”
I’m really looking forward to seeing more of him this season and I do think we’ve got a special talent on our hands here.
It’s strange to see Arsenal score 4 goals without Thierry Henry’s name being on the scoresheet, but his contribution was excellent nonetheless. Two ‘assists’, and it was his shot that Nigel Martyn spilt to allow the fourth to be scored. I think he’s probably still a couple of weeks away from full fitness too.
The boss also spoke about how the young players are going to push the senior players for their places in the team, adding a hunger to the squad that maybe you don’t get with a group of established senior players. He says “We have other youngsters — like Jermaine Pennant, Gael Clichy and Robin van Persie who are ready to become regulars. That is good because they’ll push the senior players. It is about finding the right balance but I wanted to open the door for the young talent at the club. That is why I allowed the likes of Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Kanu to leave.”
So, you couldn’t really ask for a better start to the season than that. Now we have a stupid round of internationals on Wednesday so fingers crossed all the Arsenal players involved in those and the U-21 games with come back unscathed.
So how was your weekend then?
